Aristeas

The letter from Aristeas to Philocrates

Contents of presentation

• Introduction
• Synopsis
• Historical relevance
• Reception + critique

Introduction

• Pseudepigraphic: false attribution of author.
• Best guess: devout Alexandrian Jew.
• 2nd century B.C.E.
• Septuagint: original Koine Greek Translation of Hebrew Bible

Synopsis

• Request by King Ptolemy to Eleazar the High Priest for translation of Hebrew Law for the Library of Alexandria.
• Eleazar responds that he will conform to the request (possibly anxious nonetheless).
• King is ecstatic and breaks with decorum.
• The men start translating and harmoize through comparison.
• It took 72 days to complete, ‘as if this coincidence had been the result of some design’.
• The translation was deemed ‘well and piously made’ and was decreed never to be altered, lest one be cursed.
• Finally two examples are given of past attempts at translation, which were halted by God.

Historical relevance

• Anxiety of translating divine text.
• Quickly fased out of use (2nd century CE). Initially used because noone could read Hebrew. Use faltered for Christians and for Jews.

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Reception + critique

• Diverging stories:
• 6 elders from 12 tribes, problematic as there were no 12 tribes anymore.
• Identical divine translations vs discussion. Discredited in Renaissance.
• Goal of the author seems to be to establish superiority of Greek Septuagint over other versions of the Hebrew Bible.¹
• Critique: Jewish propoganda to convert pagans in the Greek world (Pagan King recognizes their significance and requests translation)

1: https://www.ellopos.com/blog/4508/letter-of-aristeas-full-text-in-greek-and-english/2/

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